Stanley Greenberg

Stanley B. Greenberg is a founding partner of Greenberg Research and Democracy Corps, and author of America Ascendant: A Revolutionary Nation's Path to Addressing Its Deepest Problems and Leading the 21st Century.

Jenny Warburg Below is an excerpt from Stanley Greenberg's book, Dispatches from the War Room: In the Trenches with Five Extraordinary Leaders . In one section of the memoir, published in 2009, Greenberg, a Democratic pollster currently at Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, recounts his time parsing data for Nelson Mandela's presidential campaign. T he first time I met Nelson Mandela was in 1993. I had been invited to give a strategy workshop, with Frank Greer, to 80 African National Congress campaign organizers. As Frank and I mounted a small stage to begin our presentation, Mandela eagerly took his place in the front row. When we finished, Mandela raised his hand to ask the first question: “Mr. Greer and Mr. Greenberg, in your vast experience with modern campaigns and President Clinton, is it better to have a low building with functions spread out across a few big floors or to have a tall building with functions on each of many floors?” I was taken aback. Clearly Mandela was willing to get...